Hollywood

The producers of the film Rust had budgeted $7,913 to pay rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, compared to $650,000 for themselves and a $350,000 contingency fee in case anything went wrong, according to a preliminary budget.

The independent movie had a modest overall budget of just $7,279,305, according to a draft of the production budget dated September 8, which was revealed by the Hollywood Reporter.

Star and producer Alec Baldwin, who fired the accidental shot that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, derailing the production, was slated to earn $150,000 as the lead actor, and his production company, El Dorado, was taking a $100,000 fee. 

The lawyers for the armorer on the film “Rust” — who has been under scrutiny since Alec Baldwin fatally shot the movie’s cinematographer with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition — said in interviews on Wednesday that the gun had been left unattended for hours, but later corrected themselves to say it had only been several minutes.

The gun left on a prop cart had been loaded with six dummy rounds by the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who took the prop ammunition from a box labeled “dummies,” said one of her lawyers, Jason Bowles. Dummy rounds contain no gunpowder and are used to resemble bullets on camera.

Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of his cinematographer may have been the deadly result of a “disgruntled” crew member “sabotaging” the set, an attorney for the movie’s rookie armorer alleged Wednesday.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, loaded the gun Baldwin used on the set of “Rust” from a box of ammo that should have been only dummy rounds, her attorney, Jason Bowles, told the “Today” show.

“We know there was a live round in a box of dummy rounds that shouldn’t have been there — at least one live round,” said Bowles, a former federal prosecutor.

Alec Baldwin defended working conditions on the set of the Western flick “Rust” — sharing a crewmember’s social media posts ripping her co-workers for describing it as “chaotic and unsafe.”

The actor and producer — who fatally shot cinematographer Halnya Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza — shared several screenshots of remarks by Terese Magpale Davis, who worked in the wardrobe department for the movie.

“Read this,” Baldwin, 63, wrote to introduce the multiple Instagram posts, all of which were screengrabs of Davis’ own social media posts.

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria were slammed after posing with their six children clad in Halloween costumes and posting to Instagram what many called “tasteless” photos. The posts came one week after Alec killed Rust cinematographer and mother Halyna Hutchins, who was memorialized over the weekend.

Seconds after being shot by Alec Baldwin, cinematographer Halnya Hutchins told a boom operator on the “Rust” movie set, “That was no good. That was no good at all.” Hours later, she was pronounced dead.

The haunting final words of the 42-year-old mom, who had been working as the director of photography on Baldwin’s upcoming Western flick, were reported by the Los Angeles Times based on interviews with 14 crew members, emails and text messages.

Actor Alec Baldwin told reporters Saturday he is “extremely interested” in limiting the use of firearms on movie sets in the wake of his fatal shooting while producing his latest film Rust.

New Mexico’s Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation when a 42-year-old cinematographer was killed on October 21, 2021, after Baldwin discharged a prop gun.

Alec Baldwin has spoken out in public for the first time since he accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a film set earlier this month, saying “she was my friend”.

Speaking to reporters, the actor said he would be in favour of limiting the future use of firearms on film productions to protect peoples’ safety.

He said the police had ordered him not to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors say they have not ruled out filing criminal charges over the case.

And…

Hilaria Baldwin, Alec’s fake Spanish wife, fears Alec will develop fake PTSD after tragic shooting of Halyna Hutchins

The rookie armorer in charge of weapons when Alec Baldwin accidentally shot dead his cinematographer has insisted she has “no idea” where the live ammunition came from — and is blaming the tragedy on her cost-cutting bosses.

Lawyers for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed told NBC late Thursday that the 24-year-old former model “is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired” on the set of Baldwin’s “Rust.”

“Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced,” her attorneys, Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence, said in a statement.

Alec Baldwin has not had much to say about what occurred on a movie set in New Mexico on October 21, when he fired a weapon, killing the film’s cinematographer and wounding the director.

But on Wednesday, Baldwin retweeted an article by The New York Times. “Before he handed a revolver that he had declared ‘cold’ to Alec Baldwin on the set of the film ‘Rust,’ Dave Halls, an assistant director, told a detective he should have inspected each round in each chamber, according to an affidavit. But he did not,” read the original tweet.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Light from a high afternoon sun slanted through the tall windows of the weathered wooden church, catching on the plank floorboards and illuminating the stained glass. Outside, the arid ground of the northern New Mexico foothills stretched for miles — a picturesque setting for an Old West gun battle.

The actor Alec Baldwin, haggard in a white beard and period garb as he played a wounded character named Harlan Rust, sat in a pew, working out how he would draw a long-barreled Colt .45 revolver across his body and aim it toward the movie camera.

A crew readied the shot after adjusting the camera angle to account for the shadows. The camera wasn’t rolling yet, but director Joel Souza peered over the shoulder of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins to see what it saw.

SANTA FE, N.M. — The assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the production’s armorer did not appear to check the firearm properly, new documents reveal.

“Rust” assistant director David Halls said he picked up the gun and brought it over to the production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, to be checked before resuming rehearsal the day of the fatal incident on the Santa Fe, New Mexico, production, according to a search warrant released Wednesday.

A furious Nicolas Cage stormed off the set of a film where Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of weapons — and ripped the rookie armorer for firing a gun without warning, crew members said in a new report.

The 24-year-old “Rust” armorer– in charge of guns when Alec Baldwin shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last Thursday — was repeatedly accused by crew members of breaking basic safety protocols on the Montana set of Cage’s “The Old Way” in August, they told TheWrap.

It has yet to be determined is she is in any way responsible for the Baldwin shooting.